Dhaka, Nov 27 (bdnews24.com) – Finance Minister AMA Muhith admitted on Tuesday in the House that the Hall-Mark scandal has had a negative impact on the banking sector.
"The scandal at the Sonali Bank has a negative impact on other banks," he told the parliament while presenting quarterly report on budget implementation of 2012-13 fiscal Tuesday.
The scam rocked the country when it was unearthed that Sonali Bank's Ruposhi Bangla branch lent Tk 36 billion to various organisations without maintaining proper lending procedure. Out of the amount, an unknown business entity, Hallmark Group, alone siphoned off Tk 26 billion from the branch.
"Serious irregularities in loan management were detected not only in state-owned banks but also some other banks," Muhith said.
The authorities had taken several steps to address the situation and the Anti-Corruption Commission was investigating the matter, he said.
"The bank is trying to recover the money taken it through fraudulent means," he added.
A parliamentary probe committee was formed and Managing Director of Hall-Mark Tanvir Ahmed admitted that he did take money in an improper way.
Grameen Bank
"Growth of the Grameen Bank is continuing and it is operating smoothly," Muhith said.
A commission was formed on May 15 this year to review the activities of the Nobel prize-winning microcredit institution and its associate organisations, and it put forward recommendations for betterment of such institutions, he said.
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